Archive for October 2009
Obama sits out healthcare reform
Obama forsakes leadership in healthcare reform. Sam Stein and Ryan Grim at HuffPo:
President Barack Obama is actively discouraging Senate Democrats in their effort to include a public insurance option with a state opt-out clause as part of health care reform. In its place, say multiple Democratic sources, Obama has indicated a preference for an alternative policy, favored by the insurance industry, which would see a public plan "triggered" into effect in the future by a failure of the industry to meet certain benchmarks.
The administration retreat runs counter to the letter and the spirit of Obama’s presidential campaign. The man who ran on the "Audacity of Hope" has now taken a more conservative stand than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), leaving progressives with a mix of confusion and outrage. Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill have battled conservatives in their own party in an effort to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. Now tantalizingly close, they are calling for Obama to step up.
"The leadership understands that pushing for a public option is a somewhat risky strategy, but we may be within striking distance. A signal from the president could be enough to put us over the top," said one Senate Democratic leadership aide. Such pleading is exceedingly rare on Capitol Hill and comes only after Senate leaders exhausted every effort to encourage Obama to engage.
"Everybody knows we’re close enough that these guys could be rolled. They just don’t want to do it because it makes the politics harder," said a senior Democratic source, saying that Obama is worried about the political fate of Blue Dogs and conservative Senate Democrats if the bill isn’t seen as bipartisan. "These last couple folks, they could get them if Obama leaned on them."
But with fundamental reform of the health care system in plain sight for the first time in half a century, the president appears to be siding with those who …
Find your best religion
From Holy Taco. Click to enlarge.
A modern dance
More packaging should go this direction
Rich Germans demand higher taxes
This is a fascinating story and shows a very different attitude toward the role of their country than the wealthy seem to have in the US: in Germany, citizens seem to want their country to be strong and are willing to put their money where their mouth is. The US seems to have many citizens—particularly the wealthy—who are much more concerned about their own welfare and not so concerned about the country’s. The story, from BBC News:
A group of rich Germans has launched a petition calling for the government to make wealthy people pay higher taxes.
The group say they have more money than they need, and the extra revenue could fund economic and social programmes to aid Germany’s economic recovery.
Germany could raise 100bn euros (£91bn) if the richest people paid a 5% wealth tax for two years, they say.
The petition has 44 signatories so far, and will be presented to newly re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The group say the financial crisis is leading to an increase in unemployment, poverty and social inequality.
Simply donating money to deal with the problems is not enough, they want a change in the whole approach.
"The path out of the crisis must be paved with massive investment in ecology, education and social justice," they say in the petition.
Those who had "made a fortune through inheritance, hard work, hard-working, successful entrepreneurship, or investment" should contribute by paying more to alleviate the crisis…
A strong statement for equality
Perfect boiled eggs
Top row, left to right: 1 min, 3 min, 5 min, 7 min
Second row, left to right: 9 min, 11 min, 13 min, 15 min
This post explains exactly how to boil eggs—quite a comprehensive post, in fact. When I hard-boil eggs, I aim for the 11 minute photo: the yolk almost, but not quite, done. I think 5 minute eggs would be quite nice in various dishes: boil, plunge into cold water to stop the cooking, then peel carefully and place on dish (e.g., a nice salad).
Free app to remove fake anti-virus software
Karl Getchlik at MakeUseOf.com:
I hate, I repeat, I HATE fake antivirus programs with a fury! You know exactly what I am talking about. These are pieces of software that advertise their ability to protect and fix your machine, yet once they are installed, they take over your machine, disable your antivirus and hold your computer as a virtual hostage.
Here is an example of one of these rogue programs. It is called Antivirus 2008 and there is another called Antivirus 2009 that looks identical to it but with the different year. If you have never seen anything like this… Then good for you! You are doing a great job at security (or you are using a Mac or Nix’ box!) …
A library success story
Olly Neal grew up in Arkansas during the 1950s. He didn’t care much for high school. One day during his senior year, he cut class — and wandered into the school library.
As he told his daughter, Karama, recently, he stumbled onto a book written by African-American author Frank Yerby. And the discovery changed the life of a teenage boy who was, in Neal’s memory, “a rather troubled high school senior.”
The book was The Treasure of Pleasant Valley — and it had an alluring cover, especially for a teenage boy.
Neal remembers it being “risqué — a drawing of a woman who appeared to be wearing something that was basically see-through. But the symbolism was really great for me at that age of 16.”
There was just one problem: If Neal took the book to the checkout counter, he was sure that the girls who worked on the counter would tell his friends.
“Then my reputation would be down, because I was reading books,” Neal said. “And I wanted them to know that all I could do was fight and cuss.”
Finally, Neal decided that he ought to steal the book, in order to preserve his reputation. So he did.
A week or two later, Neal had finished the book — so he brought it back to the library, careful to replace it in the same spot he had found it.
“And when I put it back, there was another book by Frank Yerby,” Neal said.
“So I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll read that, too.’ So I took it under my jacket,” Neal said.
“Later, I brought it back, and there was — by God, there was another book by Frank Yerby. So I took it.” …
Olympia Snowe’s obstructionism by delay
In July, after considerable debate and discussion, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said health care reform advocates were going far too fast. The process, she said, had to be slowed down considerably.
She said the same thing in August. And September. As we approach November, and reform seems to be gathering some momentum, Snowe keeps going for the brakes.
Centrist Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) suggested that Congress may not vote on healthcare legislation before lawmakers leave Washington for Christmas.
Democratic leaders are pushing to complete healthcare reform legislation before year’s end but key issues in the legislation have yet to be hashed out, such as the inclusion of a controversial public health insurance option.
Democrats have courted Snowe for her support on the bill. She could become a crucial vote should Senate Democrats fail to attract the 60 votes necessary on their side to invoke cloture.
"Well, Christmas might be too soon," Snowe told Bloomberg’s Al Hunt in an interview that will air throughout the weekend.
Now, Snowe hasn’t quite gotten around to explaining why the end of the calendar year may be "too soon." Instead, she’s urged policymakers to give reform the "thought it needs and requires." Snowe added, "[T]hat’s why I’ve tried to slow the process down."
That’s pretty vague, to the point that it doesn’t seem to actually mean anything. Indeed, Snowe has no idea what’s going to happen between now and the end of the December — none of us do — but she’s still convinced, no matter how much progress has been made and how strong the support, that "Christmas might be too soon." Why? She just does.
Delays for delays’ sake aren’t exactly a recipe for serious policymaking…
Obama and the GOP: Healthcare reform
Excellent post by publius at Obsidian Wings:
Despite its new momentum, the public option has a powerful new opponent — the White House.
It’s incredibly frustrating. Although Reid is close to getting 60 votes on cloture, Obama and Rahm (who, for all his bluster, is politically timid) are pushing for the "trigger," which is the same as nothing.
The question, then, is why?
At HuffPo, Sam Stein and Ryan Grim report that the White House’s opposition is based on political pragmatism. The White House feels that Snowe’s support is critical to both protect centrist Dems and to ensure their continuing support for the bill.
My view, though, is that they’re being too timid here. The politics have shifted since the summer — both in terms of the bill itself and the public option. The NYT today, for instance, noted how small businesses are suffering from skyrocketing premiums (thus strengthening the policy argument for a public option).
Frankly, the lack of Republican support is a greater political threat to Republicans than to Democrats. But it’s hard to get some Democrats to see that.
But I think the White House also has some ulterior motives here — in short, their political self-interest is diverging from the public interest. The White House, understandably, wants to be re-elected. Passing health care is critical to that.
I think, though, that the White House also wants…
The fungus that made me buy a camera
This is the fungus that started the camera purchase. When I saw it about a week ago, it had just emerged and was much more dramatic than this photo of it after its fruiting. A week ago, it was a brilliant yellow and much smaller. It had been raining, so the tree’s bark was very dark, and the contrast with the shining fungus was dramatic. I now have a pocket camera, so even though it’s not so spectacular I was determined to get the photo and prove that the camera was a sensible purchase.
9-year-old hockey phenom
Oliver Wahlstrom plays for the Portland Junior Pirate Pee-Wee Major 97s, a team of 12-year-old players based in Maine. Except Wahlstrom is JUST 9 YEARS OLD, playing up with older competition. One look at this goal, and you can see why. It also doesn’t hurt that his father, Joakim Wahlstrom, was a 10-year veteran of the Swedish Elite League.
According to NESN, that stunning tally came during the taping of the TD Bank Mini 1-on-1, a series that will debut during the first intermission of the Bruins’ game against the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 29. It’s also shown in-game at the TD Banknorth Garden.
Useful app
What advanced countries are doing about broadband
Finland’s Ministry of Transport and Communications has made 1-megabit broadband Web access a legal right, YLE, the country’s national broadcasting company, reported on Wednesday.
According to the report, every person in Finland (a little over 5 million people, according to a 2009 estimate) will have the right of access to a 1Mb broadband connection starting in July. And they may ultimately gain the right to a 100Mb broadband connection.
Just more than a year ago, Finland said it would make a 100Mb broadband connection a legal right by the end of 2015. Wednesday’s announcement is considered an intermediate step.
France, one of a few countries that has made Internet access a human right, did so earlier this year. France’s Constitutional Council ruled that Internet access is a basic human right. That said, it stopped short of making "broadband access" a legal right. Finland says that it’s the first country to make broadband access a legal right…
Continue reading. Heck, people in the US don’t even have a right to medical care.
Reasons to switch to Google Chrome
Interesting post on why a guy switched. Post begins:
As a media professional who devotes most of his time online, I pay a lot of attend to the speed of my internet browser. It means efficiency for me. Before I was introduced to Google Chrome, I have always been a Firefox fan. I’ve even written a post about how to make Firefox go faster (Check it out). Lately, I started experimenting Google Chrome. Surprisingly, I really began to like this browser. Although Chrome is new (debuted on Sept. 2008), there is definitely potential for its future. In comparison to Firefox, I will outline 7 things that make Chrome a better browser for me…
Strange clouds
Here’s a “roll cloud” (click image twice for full size):
You can see quite a few weird clouds in this post. And here’s one that was spotted over Moscow earlier this month:
Paranoid-thriller fun
Check out The Last Enemy, a BBC Masterpiece series that’s available on Watch Instantly. Quite good.
Roman Polanski is scum
If there’s any doubt, read this report by Joe Mozingo in the LA Times. The report begins:
In the flat light of the grand jury room, a nervous, deeply embarrassed 13-year-old girl sat alone — no attorney, no mother, no friend — facing three tiers of middle-aged strangers silently studying her from their leather armchairs.
The questions that day in March 1977 were clinical in tone.
The answers would set off a furor from Hollywood to London and Paris that has yet to subside.
Samantha Gailey — sandy brown hair, dimpled chin, missing class at her junior high in Woodland Hills — described her alleged rape by director Roman Polanski two weeks before at Jack Nicholson’s home above Franklin Canyon. She clutched a small heart charm her friend had given her.
“After he kissed you, did he say anything?” asked the prosecutor, Roger Gunson.
“No,” the girl said.
“Did you say anything?”
“No, besides I was just going, ‘No, come on, let’s go home. . . .’ He said, ‘I’ll take you home soon.’ “
“Then what happened?”
“And then he went down and started performing cuddliness.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he went down on me, or he placed his mouth on my vagina. . . . I was ready to cry. I was kind of — I was going, ‘No. Come on. Stop it.’ But I was afraid.”
Samantha’s testimony that day was unequivocal: She had kept trying to get away from him, putting her clothes back on, saying no repeatedly. She had made up a lie about having asthma to get out of a Jacuzzi. He persisted. She was scared. She did not physically fight him off. He began to have sex with her, then concerned she might get pregnant, switched to anal sex. When he drove her home, he told her not to tell her mom, adding, “You know, when I first met you, I promised myself I wouldn’t do anything like this with you.”
A generation of spectacle would follow: …
Surgery potentially the best option for migraine headaches
The disability from migraine headaches is an enormous health burden affecting over 30 million Americans. In newly released research, 79 migraine sufferers were followed for at least five years after having undergone detection of migraine “trigger sites” and surgery. The new data finds promising outcomes for treating trigger sites surgically for migraine headaches resulting in elimination of pain for those afflicted with the condition.
Since the surgery, 10 of the 79 patients required additional surgeries for newly detected trigger sites and were eliminated from the final analysis. Sixty-one of the remaining 69 patients (88 percent) have maintained the initial positive response to the surgery. Twenty patients (29 percent) reported elimination of migraines entirely, 41 patients (59 percent) noticed a significant decrease, and only eight patients (11 percent) experienced less than 50 percent improvement or no change.
This new data provides strong evidence that surgical manipulation of one or more migraine trigger sites can successfully eliminate (cure) or reduce the frequency, duration, and/or intensity of migraine headaches with lasting results.
